South London Line

There South London Line, operated by Southern, runs from Victoria to London Bridge.

It owes its existence to the South London Railway Act of 1862, which allowed the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) to take part in this project. The line had already existed from Wandsworth Road to Brixton since it was part of the LCDR main line: the new line was doubled at this point and taken on to London Bridge. The northern pair were used by the LCDR; the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) used the southern pair. Several of the stations were shared by the two companies.

The following are the stations which are, or have been, on the line:

London Victoria
Battersea Park
Wandsworth Road
Clapham High Street
East Brixton – station on LBSCR lines now closed
Denmark Hill
Peckham Rye
Queen's Road Peckham
South Bermondsey
Old Kent Road – closed in 1917
London Bridge

Electrification

The main importance of this line is that it was the pioneering railway electrification scheme in Britain. The opening of the tramway system in South London had led to huge passenger losses for the railways – 1.25 million in only six months – and the LBSCR chose the South London line to carry out this work: it had obtained powers to do so in 1903. On 1 December 1909 the first electric trains began services. For the initial three years, steam trains alternated with the electrics: the latter operated a 15-minute interval service from 7.30am to midnight. In its first year of operation, passengers carried almost doubled, from four million to seven-and-half.

The electrification used the overhead system (converted to the third-rail on 17 June 1928) using 6700-volt AC current: the power station at Deptford supplied the current.

The entirety of the route, apart from the London termini, is in Travelcard Zone 2.

The outer route

Another route between Victoria and London Bridge, also operated by Southern, follows the Brighton main lines. It has the following stations:

The Victoria – Brighton line continues southwards at this point; the connecting link joins the London Bridge – Brighton line at Sydenham. That link was opened on 1 December 1856 by the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway to connect Wandsworth Common with Sydenham in connection with the transfer of the Crystal Palace to Sydenham Hill. The stations on the remainder of this route are:

Streatham Hill
West Norwood
Gipsy Hill
Crystal Palace – was suffixed "Low Level" until the High Level station and its branch line closed on 20 September 1954
Sydenham
Forest Hill
Honor Oak Park
Brockley
New Cross Gate
London Bridge

This line covers Zones 1 to 4.

Each of the two lines will form part of the proposed East London Line southern extensions – the South London Line from Surrey Quays tube station to Clapham High St. (and thence to Clapham Junction) and the outer line from New Cross Gate to Crystal Palace.

Railway lines in Great Britain:
<p style="font-size: 90%">High-speed main lines:	<p style="font-size: 90%">Channel Tunnel Rail Link – Channel Tunnel
<p style="font-size: 90%">'Classic' main lines:	<p style="font-size: 90%">Cross-Country – East Coast – Great Eastern – Great Western – Midland – West Coast
<p style="font-size: 90%">Other main lines:	<p style="font-size: 90%">Brighton – Chiltern – Chatham – Hastings – Highland – Kent Coast – London, Tilbury and Southend – North Wales – Portsmouth Direct – Settle-Carlisle – South Wales – South Western – Welsh Marches – Wessex – West Anglia – West of England
<p style="font-size: 90%">Secondary routes:	<p style="font-size: 90%">Airedale – Arun Valley – Ayrshire Coast – Caldervale – Cambridge-Norwich – Cotswold – Dearne Valley – East Coastway – Golden Valley – Glasgow South Western – Hallam – Harrogate – Harwich – Hope Valley – Huddersfield – Lea Valley – Leeds-Bradford – Medway Valley – North Downs – Pontefract – Robin Hood – Riviera – Wakefield – West Coastway – West Highland – York & Selby
<p style="font-size: 90%">Commuter lines:	<p style="font-size: 90%">Alton – Argyle – Bexleyheath – Birmingham Cross-City – Braintree – Caterham – Catford Loop – Chase – Dartford Loop – Gospel Oak-Barking – Hayes – Inverclyde – Ivanhoe – Maesteg – Mid-Kent – Morecambe – North Clyde – North Kent – North London – Northern City – Oxted – Romford-Upminster – Severn Beach – Sheerness – South London – St Albans Abbey – Sutton & Mole Valley – Tattenham Corner – Walsall – West London – Wharfedale – Whifflet
<p style="font-size: 90%">Rural lines:	<p style="font-size: 90%">Atlantic Coast – Avocet – Bittern – Buxton – Cambrian – Crouch Valley – Cumbrian Coast – Conwy Valley – Derwent Valley – Durham Coast – East Suffolk – Esk Valley – Far North – Felixstowe – Fen Line – Furness – Heart of Wales – Heart of Wessex – Island Line – Kyle of Lochalsh – Looe Valley – Lymington – Maritime – Marshlink – Marston Vale – Penistone – Ribble Valley – St Ives – Sudbury – Tamar Valley – Tarka – Tees Valley – Tyne Valley – Wherry – Windermere – Yorkshire Coast
<p style="font-size: 90%">Closed major routes:	<p style="font-size: 90%">Great Central – Honeybourne – Somerset & Dorset – Waverley – Woodhead

Categories: British railway lines | London's railways | Southwark | Lambeth